WASHINGTON WATCH

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, September 10, 1998

AH: Tax cut uncertainty&lt;

House Speaker Newt Gingrich says Congress should slash individual income tax rates by 10 percent across the board, but he concedes the best the House is likely to pass this year is a modest cut of up to $80 billion over five years in a range of other taxes.

There's no certainty even that will get through the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to move any tax bill forward and there are only 55 Republicans.

The 18-month report on activity through June 30 showed that Republican national, state and local committees had raised $193 million in restricted contributions, compared with the Democrats' $108 million. Those totals represented a 19 percent and 30 percent increase, respectively, over the same period from 1993 to 1994.

Republicans raised $71.8 million in soft money, 255 percent more than in the previous midterm election cycle. The Democrats' receipts of $53 million represented a 70 percent increase.

Indian money&lt;

The Senate is prodding wealthy Indian tribes to give up federal funding in return for promises that aid would be restored if the gambling industry turns sour.

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As many as a dozen tribes may return their money, Ron Allen, president of the National Congress of American Indians, said Wednesday. The money is to be redistributed to poor reservations.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislation in June that would have taken $12 million in federal aid from the richest 10 percent of tribes and given it to the poorest 20 percent. But the sponsor, Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., dropped that move in return for the Clinton administration's agreement to come up with a plan by April for redistributing federal aid.&lt;

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